Rising Storm (1989)


I went into this knowing practically nothing about it, either with it’s original title or AKA of “Rebel Waves”. Given the amount of post-apocalyptic nonsense I watch, and the number of books I read on the subject (like the rather excellent https://pulsestore.net/produit/after-the-world-ends/?lang=en After The World Ends by Claude Gaillard, that I encourage all fans of the genre to check out), that surprised me, but after about 10 minutes I’d worked out why. And for the cynics amongst you it wasn’t because it was yet another low cost Mad Max lite Continue reading

Gold Told Me To (1976) is not that devine

Spooky


This was picked because of it’s title and enigmatic premise. After watching it I found out it was made by Larry Cohen, and then I found it he had directed, written, and produced such genre classics as Q: The Winged Serpent, Maniac Cop, and Black Caesar. He also did The Stuff, which I love but I get why others find a bit tedious. So it’s nice to see where he came from, and how far he had improved.
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Billy The Kid Vs Dracula (1966) Is A Low Budget Kids Movie

This was a short and low effort movie, so I’m going to be doing the same for the review. Hopefully you’ll also be as amused as I was watching the film, and the title will also have grabbed your attention. Ironically, it took me longer to write and upload this blog post than it did for William Beaudine to make the film.
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Here Comes Hell (2019) is far better than advertised


The promise of this Jack McHenry written and directed movie is straightforward: “Let’s take the micky out of the old Agatha Christie rip-off movies of the 30s”. It’s a simple, evocative, and, to the right kind of person, enthralling concept, and about the first 20 minutes of the film do a good job of it. But, much like the best murder mysteries, things suddenly go awry in the best possible manner. Continue reading

24 hours in Amityville

Apologies for the non-review post, but today i’m watching 24 hours of Amityville movies to raise money for the homeless charity Crisis.

The films left to watch are (by UK time)
3:02 PM Amityville Curse 3.8/10
4:33 PM Amityville The Evil Escapes 4.4/10
6:08 PM Amityville: It’s about time 4.7/10
8:43 PM Amityville Dollhouse 4.3/10
10:16 PM The Amityville Terror 3.2/10
11:41 PM The Amityville Asylum 2.6/10
1:07 AM The Amityville Horror (2005) 5.9/10
2:33 AM Amityville Scarecrow 2.5/10
3:57 AM Amityville Scarecrow 2 4/10
5:04 AM The Amityville Haunting 2.6/10
6:27 AM Witches of Amityville 2.5/10
7:58 AM Amityville Playhouse 1.8/10
9:47 AM Amityville Island 1.9/10

If you’d be so wonderful as to consider donating then please go to https://www.justgiving.com/page/24-hours-in-amityville

If you’d like to watch me watch them then go to https://www.twitch.tv/raggedymantwitch

Thank you for your time 🙂

The Gene Generation (2007) Isn’t Great, But It Is Very Watchable

The film starts with ten minutes of exposition and the unlikely appearance of Faye Dunaway. Provided by Alex Newman in the role of “scientist who doomed the whole planet and feels really quite miffed about it”, it lays out the pros and cons of the next 80 minutes for all to see. Lots of ideas, lots of stylish 2ks cybergoth imagery, CGI that looks like it was originally a PlayStation cut-scene, and not quite talent to reach it’s highly ambitious goals. Frankly, it’s a bit of a mess; but there is an undeniable something that makes you carry on watching to see where it goes. Continue reading

Dog Day (1984) is very French

There is always a joy to watching Lee Marvin act, as you never know what he’s going to do next and you have the sense that him punching you is always a viable option. So, it’s rather fitting that his third to last film has a script that feels the same way. It’s was originally based Jean Herman’s novel of the same name, and then went through three other screenwriters until director Yves Boisset got his hands on it. Needless to say, the director behind the criminally underappreciated sci-fi death-TV masterwork that is Le Prix Du Danger insured that it had social commentary, blunt violence, and an uneasy touch of surrealism. Continue reading

And now, a request for your cash; For Charity!

Sorry I’ve been away for… wow, almost two months!… but life and doing another season of Paul And Andrew Watch All Of got in the way of keeping the reviews coming through. However, I carried on watching movies to keep me going and, as I often do when sitting on a nice sofa in a warm room, I acknowledge that things could be far worse. For a start, I could have been homeless. So, as is my semiannual tradition, I’m going to spend time watching films I know I’m going to hate in the hopes you’ll donate some cash to help homeless people.

It’s a simple concept: I watch Amityville movies for 24 hours straing, possibly losing my mind because they’re all incredibly dull and frequently nothing but cheapy mockbusters, you get to see it happening in real time as I stream it and mock/encourage me directly as I try to get through it all, and we both help get some much needed cash to Crisis UK. Or you do the same but send the money to a homeless charity in your part of the world and tell me you did it. Main thing: Bad Movies + Endurace Watch = Donations + Amusement.

Things start 30th of September, which means you have plenty of time to raid your sofa for change and tell all your friends! Or even your enemies if they’re good for a share or a couple of coins into the pot. The main thing is that it’s happening and everyone is invited to you might as well make something good happen from it, other than me finding new ways to describe a pondurouse bit of cinematic chaff. So, please: send money to justgiving.com/page/24-hours-in-amityville and wish me luck as I try to spend 24 Hours In Amityville.

The Raggedyman

Rock Odyssey (1987)


Time for a properly obscure bit of animation from director Robert Taylor ad the Hanna Barbera studio. There is a proper “production hell” story that accompanies this film, with it being finished in 1981 and then put on hold till a new section was added (by a different team) and it got it’s first screening in 1987. Never released for home viewing, and only broadcast a handful of times, if you want to watch it you’ll need to go to Archive.Org and forgive the quality/AV-Sync issues.
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The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby (2005)


Before we start, we need to address one key issue about this film: the historic Greyfriars Bobby was a Skye Terrier but Westle, who stars in the titular role, is a West Highland White Terrier. The Skye Terrier Club spoke to the press about this when the film was in production, That then gets complicated when in 2022, the president of the Canadian Dandie Dinmont Terrier Club claimed it for their preferred breed. Which is to say that some people take these things almost as seriously as this film took its subject matter, and that after am hour of research into this I can conclude that all the breeds mentioned are adorable. Continue reading